Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No.

9, September, 647–654
doi: 10.1680/macr.9.00063

Studying the production process and mechanical

properties of reactive powder concrete: a Hong
Kong study
K. M. Ng*, C. M. Tam* and V. W. Y. Tam†

City University of Hong Kong; University of Western Sydney

Reactive powder concrete is a relatively new cementitious material. Its main features include a high percentage
ingredient of Portland cement, very low water-to-binder (cement + silica fume) ratio, a high dosage of super-
plasticiser and the presence of very fine crushed quartz and silica fume. Coarse aggregate in normal aggregate
concrete is completely replaced by fine quartz sand with particle sizes ranging from 150 to 600 ìm. Reactive
powder concrete is characterised by ultra-high performance in mechanical properties, particularly in compressive
strength; and this could be of tremendous interest to construction practitioners. However, production of reactive
powder concrete is not yet available in Hong Kong and limited research is available in this area. This study is an
attempt to produce reactive powder concrete using local materials under laboratory conditions. Concrete designed
from reactive powder concrete and high-performance concrete is experimentally conducted and compared. The
results show that the compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and static modulus of elasticity are found to be
significantly higher than that of high-performance concrete using the same water-to-binder ratio. It is noted that
the rate of strength development of the reactive powder concrete samples is greater than that of high-performance
concrete. The difference in strength at a later age is even bigger. Compressive strength of about 200 MPa could
even be achieved in 3 days for the reactive powder concrete samples when the samples were heat-treated at a
temperature of about 2508C for 16 h, which can be explained by the formation of xonotlite under scanning electron
microscopy investigation.

Introduction (c) improved matrix properties by addition of pozzola-

The composition of reactive powder concrete (RPC)
is coarse aggregate-free, differing from that of high-
performance concrete (HPC). The ultra-high mechani-
cal performance of RPC can be explained by
(a) enhancement of homogeneity of RPC by elimina-
tion of coarse aggregate and limiting the maximum
size of ingredients of RPC to be less than 600 ìm
(Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995)
(b) enhancement of compacted density by optimising
granular mixture (Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995)
* Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong
Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
† School of Engineering, University of Western Sydney, New South
Wales, Australia
(MACR 900063) Paper received 26 April 2009; last revised 10
September 2009; accepted 4 December 2009. Published online ahead
of print 25 June 2010.
nic admixtures; that is silica fume to fill up voids
among the next largest particles (cement), to
enhance rheological characteristics by the lubrica-
tion effect resulting from perfect sphericity of basic
particles and to produce secondary hydrates for
pozzolanic reaction with lime resulting from pri-
mary hydration (Appa Rao, 2003; Behnood and
Ziari, 2008; Long and Wang, 2002; Ma and
Schneider, 2002; Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995;
Yazici, 2007)
(d) improved matrix properties by reducing water-to-
binder ratios (Ma and Schneider, 2002)
(e) enhancement of microstructure by heat-treatment
during hardening (Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995).
The excellent durability of RPC has been investi-
gated by carrying out tests of freezing and thawing and
chlorine impermeability (Bonneau et al., 1997; Ji et al.,
2008; Shaleen and Shrive, 2006). The high brittleness
is the biggest disadvantage of the concrete, especially
647

www.concrete-research.com 1751-763X (Online) 0024-9831 (Print) # 2010 Thomas Telford Ltd

Ng et al.

of very-high-strength concrete (Long and Wang, 2002).
An experiment on shear strength test found that the
ultra-high-performance concrete beams (total length of
8.6 m and a total depth of 650 mm) were observed to
crack in the web regions in an average shear force of
230 kN (Voo and Poon, 2008). The beams then under-
went strain hardening in the web regions and numerous
smear diagonal cracks appeared. The average ultimate
shear carrying capacity was measured to be 350 kN. It
is reported that the ultra-high-performance concrete can
be used as structural members for many engineering
applications.
Despite these attractive properties, RPC has not re-
ceived much attention in Hong Kong owing probably to
the complicated production process, and its unknown
and unconfirmed properties when made using local
materials. In fact, there are many examples of innova-
tive RPC bridges existing around the world, such as the
world’s first RPC pedestrian bridges, Sherbrooke Foot-
bridge in Canada, Sakata-Mirai Footbridge in Japan
and more recent highway bridges in the United States
of America (Rebentrost and Cavill, 2006). Apart from
the applications of RPC in constructing bridges, it can
be used as a reliable container for radioactive waste
from disused nuclear plants because of the excellent
strength and durability (Collepardi et al., 2003).
This paper aims to study the current development of
RPC in construction, investigate the production process
of RPC, examine its mechanical properties, including
compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and sta-
tic modulus of elasticity by making comparison to HPC
made by local materials, and explore the effects of
heat-treatment for RPC.
Experimental programme
Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995; Shaleen and Shrive, 2006;
Washer et al., 2004).
Mixing sequences
The conventional mixing method is based on BS
1881: part 125 (BSI, 1986). However, since RPC is
composed of very fine materials, the conventional mix-
ing method is not appropriate and thus the selected
mixing method cannot be the same. The focus of this
study is to compare the mechanical properties of both
types of concrete made using the same water-to-binder
ratio. The following sequence in mixing RPC is based
on previous studies (Bonneau et al., 1997; Chan and
Chu, 2004; Feylessoufi et al., 2001; Lee and Chisholm,
2005; Morin et al., 2002; Shaleen and Shrive, 2006), as
well as the current authors’ own trial-and-error ap-
proaches
(a) dry mixing powders (including cement, quartz
sand, crushed quartz and silica fume) for about
3 min with a low speed of about 140 r/min
(b) addition of half volume of water containing half
amount of superplasticiser
(c) mixing for about 3 min with a high speed of about
285 r/min
(d ) addition of the remaining water and superplastici-
ser
(e) mixing for about 10 min with a high speed of
about 285 r/min.
The entire mixing process takes about 15 min. The
RPC mix is compacted using a vibrating table and hand
tamping using a square tamping rod. The specimens
are demoulded 24 h after casting. Some samples are
placed in a water tank at 278C and cured for a specific
number of days for testing; some samples are placed in
an oven at 2508C for 16 h and taken out for testing.

Materials and mix proportions Specimen preparation and testing

Two concrete mixtures, RPC and HPC, are designed
with the same water-to-binder ratio, with the HPC as
the control. Table 1 provides the details of the RPC and
HPC mix designs, which are based on some published
recommended compositions (Cheyrezy et al., 1995;
Table 1. Detail of RPC and HPC mix design used
Type of concrete mix RPC HPC
Two batches of concrete, RPC and HPC, are pre-
pared for studying the mechanical properties (including
compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and sta-
tic modulus of elasticity). For each batch of concrete,
100 3 100 3 100 mm cubes are used for compressive
tests, and ˘ 100 3 200 mm cylinders for splitting ten-
sile tests and static modulus of elasticity tests. All are
tested at 7, 14, 28 and 56 curing days. Averages of
three results are reported.

Water/binder 0.24 0.24

Cement: kg/m3 761 761
Results and discussion
Silica fume: kg/m3 247 247 Production process
20 mm aggregate: kg/m3 Nil 488
10 mm aggregate: kg/m3 Nil 244 By visual observations during concrete mixing, a
River sand: kg/m3 Nil 314 long mixing time is required for the RPC mixes to
Quartz sand: kg/m3 1090 Nil ensure that dry-balled particles and conglomerates have
Crushed quartz: kg/m3 226 Nil
been dispersed. The mixing process for the RPC takes
Water: kg/m3 244 244
Superplasticiser: kg/m3 15 15
about 15 min, while the HPC mix requires 5 min to
complete. The extended mixing time was necessary to
648 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9
 Studying the production process and mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete

disperse silica fume fully, breaking up any agglomer-
ated particles, and allowing superplasticiser to develop
its full potential (De Larrard et al., 2004; Lee and
Chisholm, 2005).
Mechanical properties
The test results of compressive strength, splitting
tensile strength and static modulus of elasticity for the
RPC and HPC samples are summarised in Table 2.
Compressive strength. Figure 1 shows the compres-
sive strength of the RPC and HPC samples at different
curing days. In general, the compressive strength of the
RPC is higher than that of the HPC over the entire
curing period using the same water-to-binder ratio of
about 0.24. This is attributable to the enhancement of
homogeneity of RPC by elimination of coarse aggre-
gates (Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995). This also leads to
a high packing density of solid particles of the RPC
mix (Wong and Kwan, 2008). The homogeneity and
high packing density of fine particles of RPC can be
supported by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
observations as shown in Figure 2, in which no distinct
interfacial transition zone (ITZ) is observed and minute

Table 2. Test results

Concrete mix Temperature: Duration: Compressive strength: Splitting tensile strength: Static modulus of
8C days MPa MPa elasticity: GPa

RPC 27 7 93.7 7.71 41.5

96.2 6.62 41.0
95.8 6.75 40.5
Average ¼ 95.2 Average ¼ 7.02 Average ¼ 41.0
27 14 114 7.32 43.0
118 6.71 43.0
118 7.93 43.0
Average ¼ 117 Average ¼ 7.32 Average ¼ 43.0
27 28 136 7.47 45.0
136 7.02 45.0
130 8.64 45.0
Average ¼ 134 Average ¼ 7.71 Average ¼ 45.0
27 56 140 8.22 46.0
133 8.07 45.0
142 7.92 45.0
Average ¼ 138 Average ¼ 8.07 Average ¼ 45.0
HPC 27 7 86.2 5.47 28.5
80.6 5.03 28.0
83.4 5.25 29.0
Average ¼ 83.4 Average ¼ 5.25 Average ¼ 28.5
27 14 88.4 5.26 31.0
91.4 5.65 35.0
91.1 5.43 36.0
Average ¼ 90.3 Average ¼ 5.45 Average ¼ 34.0
27 28 90.0 5.50 39.0
93.6 5.40 38.0
91.8 5.45 38.0
Average ¼ 91.8 Average ¼ 5.45 Average ¼ 38.0
27 56 98.7 5.78 38.0
110 5.04 38.5
91.6 5.78 38.5
Average ¼ 100 Average ¼ 5.53 Average ¼ 38.0
RPC 100 2/3 (or 16 h) 130 7.33 39.5
115 7.17 37.5
104 7.23 40.3
Average ¼ 116 Average ¼ 7.24 Average ¼ 39.1
100 2 (or 48 h) 120 7.37 41.9
145 7.23 42.7
116 7.33 40.0
Average ¼ 127 Average ¼ 7.31 Average ¼ 41.5
250 2/3 (or 16 h) 197 7.65 42.0
199 7.43 42.0
189 7.33 42.5
Average ¼ 195 Average ¼ 7.47 Average ¼ 42.0
250 2 (or 48 h) 182 7.70 44.3
205 7.57 42.9
213 7.31 44.0
Average ¼ 200 Average ¼ 7.53 Average ¼ 43.7

Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9 649

Ng et al.
160
1). It can be seen that the compressive strength of RPC
140
at 7 days is about 71% of that at 28 days, while the
Compressive strength, fc: MPa
120 compressive strength of the HPC achieves about 91%
100 of that at 28 days. The extent of strength development
depends on the chemical composition of the pozzolan:
80
the greater the content of alumina and silica, the better
60 is the pozzolanic reaction and strength displayed. It
40 was reported that for concrete with high silica fume
RPC content, the inhibiting layer of reaction products around
20 HPC
the fume particles was not fully developed and thus the
0
7 14 28 56 continued reaction of silicates with lime to form addi-
Age: days tional C–S–H gel will result in further strength en-
Figure 1. Compressive strength of the RPC and HPC samples hancement.
at different curing days
Splitting tensile strength. Figure 4 shows the split-
ting tensile strengths of the RPC and HPC samples at
Void different curing days. It is found that the splitting
tensile strengths of both the RPC and HPC generally
increase with age, with the former always higher than
the latter. It is also noted that the rate of strength
development of the RPC is higher than that of the
HPC, similar to the observation for the compressive
strength in this investigation. The high rate of strength
development of the RPC can also be explained by the
continuous pozzolanic reaction of silicates with lime at
the later age (Richard and Cheyrezy, 1995).

Static modulus of elasticity. Figure 5 shows the

Figure 2. Scanning electron micrograph of the RPC samples
at 28 days
voids are found. The matrix is more homogeneous.
Comparing with HPC in Figure 3, more and bigger
voids are found at the ITZ, which critically affect the
ultimate strength of concrete.
It is also noted that the rate of strength development
of the RPC is greater than that of the HPC (see Figure
ITZ
static modulus of elasticity of the RPC and HPC sam-
ples at different curing days. It is observed that the
static modulus of elasticity of the RPC is always higher
than that of the HPC, similar to the observation of the
compressive and splitting tensile strength. The static
modulus of elasticity decreased when the interfacial
behaviour between aggregate and cement paste was
weakened (Mehta and Monteiro, 1993; Mindess et al.,
2003). The RPC mixture is more homogeneous and has
a higher packing density of particles owing to the
elimination of coarse aggregate.
Stress–strain behaviour. Figure 6 shows the
stress–strain curves of RPC and HPC. It can be ob-
9

8
Splitting tensile strength, ft: MPa

6
Cement paste
5
Aggregate
4

2 RPC
HPC
1

0
7 14 28 56
Age: days

Figure 3. Scanning electron micrograph of the HPC samples Figure 4. Splitting tensile strength of the RPC and HPC
at 28 days samples at different curing days
650 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9
 Studying the production process and mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete
50
45
Effect of temperature on mechanical properties of RPC
Elastic modulus, E: GPa

40
35 From Table 2, it is found that the compressive
30 strength of RPC increases rapidly with temperature,
25 from 1008C to 2508C. When the RPC samples are heat-
20 treated at temperature of about 1008C for 16 and 48 h,
15 compressive strengths of about 120 MPa are achieved in
10 RPC 3 days. However, compressive strengths reach about
HPC
5 200 MPa when the RPC samples are heat-treated at a
0
7 14 28 56
temperature of approximately 2508C for 16 and 48 h in
Age: days 3 days, a very high strength value. The increase is about
Figure 5. Static modulus of elasticity of the RPC and HPC 67%. Increased heat-treatment temperature leads to long
samples at different curing days calcium–silicate–hydrate (C–S–H) chains and this phe-
nomenon could be attributed to the progression of ce-
ment hydration as well as pozzolanic activity of both
160
silica fume and crushed quartz (Zanni et al., 1996). The
140 microstructure of RPC changed at a high temperature of
Compressive stress: MPa

120 about 2008C or above and the presence of a crystal

100 hydrate called xonotlite (Ca6 Si6 O17 (OH)2 ) was observed
at about 2508C and was maintained for 8 h (see Figure
80
7). Figure 8 shows the SEM micrograph of cement paste
60
and xonotlite at a lower magnification. The composition
40 of xonotlite is verified by energy dispersive X-ray spec-
RPC
20 troscopy (EDX) as shown in Table 3. It is mainly com-
HPC
0
posed of calcium, silicon and oxygen.
0 0·001 0·002 0·003 0·004 Comparing the structure of xonotlite secondary parti-
Strain
cles (see Figure 9) with xonotlite (see Figure 7), it is
Figure 6. Stress–strain curves of RPC and HPC observed that the surface area of xonotlite secondary
particles is much less than that of xonotlite, and it is
less regularly oriented. This may affect the ultimate
served that both RPC and HPC exhibit a linear elas- compressive strength of concrete. Therefore, it can be
tic stress–strain relationship. The ascending part of concluded that increasing temperature can greatly en-
the stress–strain curve for RPC is steeper and re- hance the mechanical properties of RPC due to the
mains linear up to a higher ultimate strength than formation of xonotlite.
that of HPC. The curves end abruptly and the des-
cending parts of the curves show a very steep slope, Effect of heat-treatment duration on mechanical
indicating that both RPC and HPC are brittle. The properties of RPC
only solution to overcome the brittleness is to incor-
It can be seen from Table 2 that under a constant
porate fibres into the mixture. The ductility and
temperature of about 2508C, the compressive strength
toughness are enhanced through the incorporation of
steel fibres in the RPC matrix (Bonneau et al., 1997;
Lee and Chisholm, 2005; Richard and Cheyrezy,
1995). However, in this study, no steel fibres are
incorporated in the mixtures so as not to decrease the
workability of RPC further. The unavailability of
equipment in the current authors’ laboratory meant
that the even distribution of steel fibres presented
another hurdle.
Another observation is that RPC reaches a higher
compressive stress (138.5 MPa) and strain (0.004) than
that of HPC (stress of 100.2 MPa stress and strain of
0.0034) at the peak of the stress–strain curves. At the
same stress/ultimate strength ratio, the stronger the con-
crete, the larger is the strain (Mindess et al., 2003).
However, under the same stress, regardless of strength,
stronger concrete exhibits a lower strain. This is be-
cause RPC has a higher modulus of elasticity than that Figure 7. Scanning electron micrograph of xonotlite found at
of HPC. 2508C for 48 h
Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9 651
Ng et al.

Xonotlite

Cement paste

Figure 8. Scanning electron micrograph of cement paste and Figure 10. Scanning electron micrograph of toberorite found
xonotlite at a lower magnification at 2508C for 16 h

morite, hydrated calcium silicate mineral, with the

Figure 9. Scanning electron micrograph of xonotlite
secondary particles found at 1008C for 48 h
of RPC being heat-treated for 16 h with approximately
195 MPa is not as high as that for 48 h with about
200 MPa. However, the difference is not very signifi-
cant. The results indicate that the influence of heat-
treatment duration on compressive strength of RPC is
not as significant as that of the temperature effect.
In this study, tobermorite instead of xonotlite is ob-
served under SEM investigation (see Figure 10). Tober-
chemical formula Ca5 Si6 O16 (OH)2 .4H2 O or C5 S6 H5 , is
a crystalline structure which provides Hebel (auto-
claved aerated concrete) with its strength and stability.
This can explain the ultra-high strength of RPC. Xonot-
lite is formed at higher temperatures than tobermorite
(El-Hemaly et al., 1977; Shaw et al., 2000), although
they are found at the same temperature in this investi-
gation.
Xonotlite secondary particles are also observed under
SEM when the RPC samples are heat-treated at about
1008C for 16 h, but they are much fewer in number and
more loosely packed when compared with that for 48 h
under the same temperature (see Figure 11). The xono-
tlite secondary particles may need more time to grow.
This may explain the lower compressive strength of
RPC when the heat-treatment duration is not that long.
Therefore, it can be concluded that increasing heat-
treatment duration alone (without increasing the tem-
perature) causes little improvement in the mechanical
properties of RPC.
Practical implications of the study
Based on the above experimental results, it is found
that the ratios of splitting tensile strength to compres-
sive strength for RPC are recorded at 0.074, 0.063,

Table 3. Composition of xonotlite by EDX processing option: all elements analysed

(normalised). All results in weight%

Spectrum In stats. O Si K Ca Total

Spectrum 1 Yes 50.54 24.40 3.09 21.97 100.00

Mean – 50.54 24.40 3.09 21.97 100.00
Std deviation – 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 –
Max. – 50.54 24.40 3.09 21.97 –
Min. – 50.54 24.40 3.09 21.97 –

652 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9

 Studying the production process and mechanical properties of reactive powder concrete
Figure 11. Scanning electron micrograph of xonotlite
secondary particles found at 1008C for 16 h
0.058 and 0.058 for 7, 14, 28 and 56 days respectively,
which are higher than those of HPC at 0.063, 0.060,
0.059 and 0.0553 for 7, 14, 28 and 56 days respectively.
Although the ratios at the early age are quite different
between RPC and HPC, the ratios are merging and
have similar values at 28 days, showing that the rela-
tionships between splitting tensile strength and com-
pressive strength are comparable for concrete at the
matured curing age. After 28 curing days, the ratios for
RPC become stable; however, the ratio for HPC is still
varied. This shows that both splitting tensile strength
and compressive strength are constantly developing for
RPC after 28 curing days, but not for HPC.
For the ratio of static modulus of elasticity to com-
pressive strength, results of 0.43, 0.36, 0.33 and 0.32
have been recorded for RPC and 0.34, 0.38, 0.41 and
0.38 for HPC for 7, 14, 28 and 56 days respectively.
Gradually increasing ratios from 7 to 56 curing days
for RPC have been recorded; however, the ratios for
HPC are reduced for a greater number of curing days.
This explains the fact that the rate of strength develop-
ment of the RPC samples is greater than that of HPC.
The development of RPC is still relatively new com-
pared with HPC and other types of concrete. Therefore,
it is necessary to provide more in-depth research stud-
ies for RPC to ensure consistent cause and effect rela-
tions.
Conclusion
This paper has investigated the production process,
mechanical properties and effects of heat-treatment of
RPC by making comparisons with HPC. Tests to con-
crete samples were experimentally conducted. It was
found that compressive strength, splitting tensile
strength and static modulus of elasticity of the RPC are
higher than those of the HPC over the entire curing
period for the same water-to-binder ratio. The rate of
Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 9
strength development of the RPC is greater than that of
the HPC. The continuous strength development of the
RPC can be explained by the high silica content of the
RPC which leads to a continuous pozzolanic reaction at
the later age. Heat-treatment of the RPC results in a
significant increase in compressive strength owing to
the micro-structural change, leading to the formation of
xonotlite.
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